Santorum Tells It Like It Is

Newsmax.com
april 19, 2009
By Jim Myers

The Obama administration has a "deep disdain" for traditional American values, and the recent decision to release Bush-era memos about CIA interrogation techniques is an “absolute betrayal of national security,” former Sen. Rick Santorum tells Newsmax.

In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV's Ashley Martella, the Pennsylvania Republican, who served as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, lashed out at what he calls President Barack Obama's antipathy toward American values.

The former senator told Martella that Obama's choice of Harold Koh to be legal adviser in the State Department is indicative of the problem.

"Legal adviser to the State Department sounds like an innocuous position, but it’s sort of the head lawyer over at the State Department,” Santorum tells Newsmax. "Harold Koh strongly believes that we should ignore the U.S. Constitution, we should ignore the traditional jurisprudence in this country, and we should look to international organizations, international law, and import that into this country.

“He is one of many nominees that we’ve seen that have a deep disdain for traditional values in America, for the traditional way of doing things in this country, for the U.S. Constitution. And it’s another example of where this administration has really separated itself from American constitutionalism, from American tradition and American values.

As for Obama: “We can look at what he’s done on the economy, we can look at what he’s done on religious liberty, a whole host of issues — including his own judicial nominations, where he’s been very very clear that he wants nominees that put their own values in place of what the Constitution is or what the law is," Santorum says. "I can’t even tell you how far away this is from the founders’ vision of America.”

Santorum saved some of his harshest criticism for Obama's decision to release CIA interrogation memos. “I’d say if I’m a terrorist I’m feeling pretty good," he says. "I am now going to know every trick in the book that if I am captured they will use to interrogate me.

“And I have nothing to be worried about, because once they start on this interrogation [a terrorist is] going say, ‘I know that trick. That’s number 16 that you’re using on me and I know what you’re going to try to do to me here.’

“You might as well not bother to interrogate them because I guarantee you they’re going to get the manuals. They’re going to be well schooled, so that if you are captured here is what [interrogators] will do, and we will get absolutely no information, no intelligence to be able to help our effort to win this war.

“This is an absolute betrayal of the national security of this country, to give away these techniques to the enemy,” Santorum charges.

Martella asked Santorum for his views on other hot-button issues including the so-called cap-and-trade plan to curb carbon emissions.

“The idea of putting ourselves under a regime that limits our economic growth by putting in a de facto huge tax on our economy, on the manufacturing sector of our economy, which is what this cap and trade would do, to put the government in charge of carbon emissions, to have the government in charge of the lifeblood of our economy, and that is energy, is very very dangerous.

“And once they get an oar in the water they’re going to steer the boat. You saw it with the auto industry, ordering the firing of the CEO. You’re seeing it with Barney Frank dictating policies with our financial institutions. Cap and trade will be the [final step] of the left taking over the American economy.”

Martella also asked Santorum what are the biggest dangers of an international court.
“You have folks from around the world dictating domestic policy here in this country,” Santorum responded.

“For example, you could have a court saying that the death penalty is unconstitutional. To have a group of people from overseas tell us, tell the state of Texas, that they can’t execute anybody is not what our founders envisioned, and not what the Constitution lays out.

“You could also go to the issue of abortion or same-sex marriage."

“One of the things that Harold Koh is in favor of is the International Criminal Court, which could haul our servicemen and women who are serving in various countries around the world before that court to judge them on their behavior in defending this country.”